OFF: Monster Magnet

[Laj Waldner]

Scott Heller wrote:
>
> Here is my story about a day with Monster Magnet in Copenhagen!
>
> 370.  MONSTER MAGNET, Ash, Backyard Babies.  Stor Vega, København 12/6/98
> 185 kroner
>
>         What a day! Freezing outside and snow on the ground as I wait
> outside Vega for the band to arrive. They arrive from the hotel and I greet
> Ed, Jon, Tim and Joe as they get out of the van. We head into the club and
> Ed tells the tour manager to give me a pass for the show.  This is about 4
> in the afternoon.  The band grabs a drink and then goes straight to the
> soundcheck. Tim is very busy working on getting the lighting right and the
> band is testing their stuff. Dave does not come to soundcheck anymore, the
> band said.  They run thru some riffs and then finally play Evil, andpart of
> Temple of your Dreams, and Cage around the sun. It takes about 30 minutes.
> I stood at the back of the stage and recorded some of it. Evil with the
> roadie Coz singing was pretty cool. Ed complains that they can't get anyone
> to come out and sing the stooges song!  I hang out with Jon, Joe and Ed and
> we eat some food and talk about touring, living in denmark, etc.. We are
> planning to go out and walk around as the band isn't playing for 5 hours.
> Phil, the new guitar player, is having troubles with his guitar and says 15
> more minutes several times and then a hour goes by and we take off without
> him.  As we walk down the street towards the red light district (the only
> place in town with places open on sunday afternoon!). They are freezing and
> stop and see this giant rocket, like 3 feet tall that Ed really wants to
> buy and set off for 350 kroner, but they don't have enough money. We did
> not buy it and the store was closed when we came back by and they were
> bummed!  We continue on and are not seeing that much so decide to stop in
> the Spunk Bar for a drink. Ed and joe have a tuborg christmas beer (Jul Øl)
> and Jon a whiskey.  We are sitting at a table next to some drunk swedish
> kids, one wearing a Powertrip t-shirt. it takes him a while to catch on who
> is sitting next to them. He is freaking out a bit. They traveled all the
> way from Göteborg (100 miles).  The band has a fun time laughing and joking
> around and we talk about music and the swedes interupt and ask questions
> now and again and get some autographs.   The band is really into different
> stuff. Jon likes BEck a lot and is writing country and western songs like
> Hank Williams Jr.  Ed is really into 70's rock, Allman Brothers, Tommy
> Bolin, Cactus, etc..  Ed was still on a total high after just jamming with
> Gregg Allman and Gov't Mule on One Way out at the Filmore in San Francisco.
> I told him I would get him a copy of the show. Joe is still really into
> punk.   After 45 minutes or so we head back and the Backyard Babies start
> soon. Joe and I listen to them from underneath the stage. They rock out
> seriously and come back thru drenched in sweat after only like 30 minutes.
> Crowd seem to dig them.  I got to hear a few tracks off the CD in the
> dressing room and it sounded good. They even steal the riff for Superjudge
> on one track and Dave later tells me the he stole it from the Groundhogs!
> Ash are some really young UK punk pop band who have given the band the cold
> shoulder because Rob Zombie dropped off the tour and they were suppose to
> headline the show in the Lillie Vega and it was decided now they would
> combine the two gigs and they would play second. Ed and I went up to the
> balcony and checked out a couple of their songs and they were sort of
> standardish fast punky popish stuff.  We were not impressed, but Ed did
> like the female guitar player's SG!  We went back downstairs and Joe and I
> chatted again and he was interested in checking them out a bit so this time
> we watched from the backstage. The band actually play a very cool song
> while we watch, but Joe still hates them just from the attitude they have
> showed towards the band. Funny that Ash complained about having to play for
> an hour and they only played 45 minutes!
>
>         I have a short Chat with Dave while he is preparing his voice for
> the show.  Seems that Phil, the new guitar player was brought in mostly to
> boost the guitar sound as dave is really not playing much guitar these days
> and really being a wild front man.   Well, I head off for the balcony,
> where I sit dead center in the first row. The balcony was closed off at
> this show so only roadies, bands and friends were sitting up there. The
> guys in Backyard babies and Ash watch the whole show and were really into
> it.  It was great sound (very loud) and the visuals were very cool, but a
> bit obscured by the use of too bright of lights from the top. It is a pity
> as Tim had a huge screen this night and some great film clips from
> Apocalypse Now, the smashing skull, etc... but the band needs to use darker
> lights so you can see the screen more. It was kind of lost. Anyway, the
> band open up with a stretched out version of Atomic Clock, which I guess
> has been the opener for the whole tour.  Ed's lead guitar was nice and loud
> and in your face! This seem to change depending on which guitar he played!
> He and Phil changed nearly every song from cool old SG's, Les Paul,
> stratocaster. Phil used some wierd guitars I did not really recognize.
> Next up is a ripping heavy version of Tractor.  The crowd gives a different
> response to the old versus the new songs.  Powertrip was up next and
> followed by a ballsy version of Dopes to Infinity but Ed cut the solo to
> short.. Living Crop Circle was cool but Dave fucked up his mic at the end
> of the song and you could not hear him out front even though they could
> hear him thru the monitors on stage. Cage around the Sun was the highlight
> of the show even though you could not hear Dave's vocals at all but Ed
> played some awesome spacey stuff with a sort of sitar like guitar.  Temple
> of your Dreams was good but Bummer sounded really heavy and the band seem
> to really be into the groove. I love the flanged out guitar on Teenage
> Negasonic, makes it sound really spacey.  The band ends the set with Space
> Lord. Phil's guitar sounds like it is tuned strangly to me and the opening
> riff sounds kind of wierd. The band can't quite get the guitar sound live
> that was on the studio lp. They split and this is about 70 minutes.  The
> band hang out at the back of the stage for maybe 5 minutes. There is a
> constant guitar feedback going on though and it is quite loud for the
> audience to clap and yell over it. They come back out and rip out a 3
> minute version of Kick out the Jams by MC5 and then Dave pulls out his
> therimon and starts making really cool spacey sounds while Ed plays the
> opening chords to Spine of God.  The intro is maybe five minutes before
> Dave starts singing and they have alot of effects on his voice for this
> song, something I think they should do more of.  They do about a 15 minute
> version that is pretty far out. I am not too sure what the new fans of the
> band thought but the old ones like myself thought it was great. I spoke to
> the bad afterwards and they thought that it was good show and a cool
> version of Spine of God, a song they look forward to as it is one of the
> ones that allows them to break the routine!  What a fucking day!!  I spoke
> with Dave and the rest of the guys after the show and wished them a merry
> christmas with their families and headed on home. I just caught the last
> bus as 12:19!
>
>         Joe said that the band has a lot of old four track recordings of
> stuff that they could release some day.  The next CD single will be temple
> of your Dreams. The record company wanted 19 Witches to be the single. Joe
> thinks the b-sides will be live cuts but he said that two other new cuts
> that have not made the record were also sitting around.  They never did
> finish up the cover of Mistreated by the Groundhogs from the Dopes
> recording session.   I guess that is all.  The full set list is below. Glad
> to see a few changes from the US tours so far. Looks like they may open for
> Marilyn Manson early next year and then hit the Ozzfest before taking some
> time off and doing another record.  Not likely another record will be out
> until the year 2000 sometime.
>
> Atomic Clock, Tractor, Powertrip, Dopes to Infinity, Living Crop Circle,
> Cage Around the Sun, Temple of your Dreams, Bummer, Teenage Negasonic
> Warhead, Space Lord Motherfucker
>
> Encore: Kickout the Jams, Spine of God
>
> scott
>
> ObCs Zetan Spore- Visitation
> Ob10" Porcupine Tree- Metanoia (just came today!)

Great review. Bought Powertrip a while ago and was really impressed,
it's great to see a band come out today that's so talented, they have a
very refreshing sound. Does anybody know where to get tour dates, I
would love to see them live. I was in a music store called AE
entertainment yesterday with a couple friends, being Christmas the store
was practically overflowing with people. they usually play an album,
then display the album on the front desk, that day it was Monster
Magnet's Powertrip. And when we got there, what do we hear, the opening
riff to "Bummer". Needless to say when the proprietor heard the lyric
"Your looking for the one who . . . ." which me and my friends were
singing and laughing to, he made this incredible ten foot leap to the
stop button on the stereo, it was hilarious :-).

Laj.